Only Know I Do
by Thunder-Nari
Summary: RemyLance At the end of the Stuff of Villains Gambit leads the Brotherhood instead of Pietro...um, yeah...pretty much tells how they go from hate to friends to lovers...
1. Default Chapter

Wow, look at this I finally -finally- managed to get this started.  YAY!!!!  So, it takes place at the end of that episode, um, The Stuff of Villains (I think) but instead of Pietro, Gambit leads.  The first part of the story will be in Lance's POV but will switch to Remy's POV for the last part (don't worry I'll tell you when) First chapter kinda turned out more, um, happy? than I meant it to.  But I'm in a really good mood and that's what happens.  The next chapter will be more serious (probably).  I'm not sure, though, if this chapter is any good, but I guess you all can tell me that.  If it really sucks then I'll take it down and re-write it.  Sooo, please review, tell me what ya think, 'kay?

Only Know I Do

By Nari

Gambit had just walked through the door and declared that he was going to be leading the Brotherhood from now on.  Under Magneto's orders, of course.  To say I was a little bit pissed would be an understatement.

"No way am I going to take orders from you!"  I pretty much sneered this out, had a curl to my lip and everything.

"Don' t'ink dat you really have a say in de matter, homme."  He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me with that damn arrogant expression of his.  No doubt just waiting for me to say something.  Blob never gave me the chance.

"Come on, Lance.  Maybe it won't be so bad.  We might even get on Magneto's new team."

"Yeah, come on, yo.  We gotta get on the team."

"You guys can't actually be agreeing to this!"  I couldn't believe that they would desert me like this.  Great friends.  I also didn't see what the big deal was about working for Magneto.  It would just be yet another person to push us around and use us for our mutant powers.

"Y' don' like it y' welcome t' leave."  That smug bastard actually smiled at me.  He knew that I had nowhere else to go.  Much as I may have wanted to leave, I couldn't.  There was no way I was going back to some foster home, not that anyone would have wanted me anyway.  Getting a job when you're a known mutant is pretty much impossible and I'm not about to go live on the streets.  I really didn't have a choice.

"Fine!"  I barked out angrily and stomped out of the room.  Childish, I know, but what gave him or even Magneto, the right to come here.  I was so sick of being used by these people.  We would be nothing but more foot soldiers to add to their mutant army.  Just once, it would be nice if someone actually cared.

Once I got up to my room, I had some time to think.  Would it really be so bad?  As much as I hated Gambit this team really did need some leadership and those two idiots downstairs simply wouldn't listen to me.  Also, with Magneto supporting us, we'd actually have some food for a change.  Actually be able to pay our bills.  I had to grudgingly admit to myself that having Gambit around might be a good thing.  I still wasn't gonna like him, though, and I sure as hell wasn't gonna make this easy on him.  There was a soft knocking on the door.  Knew it had to be him, those other two just would have knocked the door down to get in.

"What do ya want?"  He opened the door and stepped slightly into the room.  His lip curled slightly in disgust.

"Ugh, how c'n y' guys live in dis house.  It's like a pig sty."

"Yeah, well we don't really get much time for cleaning."  Whoa, what a lie, it makes it sound like we actually do something with our time.

"Well you've got it now.  Get up and move, we're going to make dis place livable."  Sighing, I got up.  There wasn't much point in arguing.  The house was starting to get kind of sickening and I'd been trying to get this place clean for weeks now.

Walking down the stairs and into the living room my eyes nearly bugged out of my sockets.  Toad and Blob were actually cleaning and doing a good job of it by the looks of it.  I looked over at Gambit in shock.  He grinned and cracked his knuckles.

"All it takes is a little motivation."

"Huh."  Never worked for me before.  Already, he was getting more respect from the team than I had ever got.

"Well?"  I looked at him blankly.  He rolled his eyes.  "What y' draggin' y' feet for?  Get cleanin'."  I grunted at him but did as he said.  I was once again surprised when he went and got a vacuum and began cleaning himself.  He must have noticed my startled look.  "Wouldn' be fair f' me t' order you around an' den sit on my ass an' do not'ing, non?"  I couldn't think of a clever response to that one.  Think I was way too dumbfounded to speak at that moment.

There were a few moments of silence, other than the sounds of our cleaning, when we heard the front door open and then slam shut.  Oh joy, it appeared that Wanda was back.  I couldn't wait to see how Gambit handled her, that girl didn't listen to anyone.  She stalked into the living room and didn't even bother glancing at us, simply walked through and up to her room.  Her door slammed hard enough to shake the walls.  Glancing over at Gambit, I saw him staring after her in disbelief and anger.  Without a word, he stalked off after her.  I heard the door open and close as he entered her room.  I wondered if maybe he had a death wish or was just a complete idiot.

"So, how do you think she'll kill him?"  Todd voiced into the still silence.  Neither I nor Fred bothered answering.  The house remained quiet.  Wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign, she could have just killed him the moment he entered the room.  We waited in silence for several moments.

"I am not staying on a team run by one of Magneto's lackeys!!"  Ah, there was the shouting.

"Eit'er y' listen t' me or y' can get de hell out!"  The door opened and a moment later Wanda stomped down the stairs followed by an equally pissed off Gambit.  "Y' can come back when y' grow up a little!"  She didn't bother replying, just walked back out the door and didn't look back.  Todd, Fred and I were all staring in shocked silence.  I wondered idly why she hadn't used her powers on him.  Gambit turned to glare at us and the phrase 'if looks could kill' passed through my mind.  We all got back to cleaning pretty quickly.

#

It was amazing; we got the house cleaned in just a couple of weeks.  The state the house was in you'd have figured it would have taken months.  We even painted the walls, got rid of all the graffiti.  Now, I'm not saying it was done without any arguing though.  I've got a terrible temper and within a day I found out that Gambit had one of his own.  And neither of us have anything against using our powers to prove a point.  We had to replace the furniture in the living room once.  Thank God, with Gambit here, we were getting money from Magneto, though I'm sure Gambit would have to explain that one later.  Thinking back on it, it was actually kind of fun.  Toad and Blob managed to stop us before we did any real damage to each other.  I'm afraid we were both a little bit banged up after that little episode.  Wish I could remember what started it.  Oh well.

We did have one real good argument in that time that I actually do remember.  It happened when we were painting the walls.

"So, what color do you think we should paint the wall?"  Blob had asked after the rest of the cleaning was finished.

"Let's keep it simple, paint 'em white."

"Oh, well that's pretty boring.  We should paint them navy blue."  Yeah, that's right we were actually arguing over the paint color.  I'm embarrassed just thinking about it.

"Navy blue?  What de hell?  Y' can't paint de walls dat color!"

"Hey, it's still our house!  You have no say in what color the walls will be!"

"I'm de leader!  I get t' decide!"

We probably would have argued about this for hours if Blob hadn't broken in.  He suggested a race.  First one to buy the paint and get back here got to use their color.  Huh, it would appear that Blob is the only real sensible one in this group as Toad was goading us on to fight.  Anyway, we agreed to his idea and took off to different stores.  By some miracle I managed to get back before him but he was right on my heels and none too happy about losing.  Running through the door, all I could hear was him cursing from behind me, and, then, I heard a noise like one of his cards charging.  I had just made it to the stairs when I heard him grunt as he threw something at me.  I turned, expecting to see a card, but what I saw was a paint can.  I did the only thing I could think of.  I threw mine at the one flying through the air and ducked.  The two cans collided and there was quite the explosion.  Paint just flew everywhere, plastering the wall and Gambit.  I had managed to get behind the couch and was spared from a paint soaking.  We had luckily covered all the furniture and stuff and Toad and Blob had been smart enough to leave before the explosion.

As I climbed to my feet and looked over at Gambit I almost fell to the floor laughing.  He was covered head to toe in blue and white paint, the expression on his face a mixture of shock and disgust.  If only I had had a camera.  Gambit stalked out of the room, grumbling something about taking a shower.  Some good did come of this, though.  When mixed, the paint was a rather nice shade of light blue.  We bought more paint and decided that that would have to be a good enough color as we certainly didn't want to go through all that again.

A/N: Just need ta ask a couple of quick questions about some other ideas I had.  1) On Evolution have they ever mention anything about Genosha?  (I sleep in and miss the cartoons all the time.  The only reason I've seen season three is 'cause I downloaded it.  I missed season two almost completely)  2) Also came up with another idea (that has nothing to do with Genosha) but I'm can't decide on a pairing.  So I figured I'd ask you what you would like.  It's another Remy one 'cause I apparently can't do a story without him in it.  So Remy/?. It can be anyone from Kitty-St. John just put in your request.  It'll be like a vote, yes?  Only not Rogue.  I'm so sick of seeing them paired and I don't much like her.


	2. chapter 2

Chapter Two

Since the first two weeks didn't really leave much time for anything but cleaning, things went unbelievably well.  It was when the cleaning was done that things really started getting tense.  None of us are going to school right now and that leaves us with a lot of free time.  So, we were all just sitting around in the living room doing whatever we pleased.  Toad was attempting to watch TV, though generally the reception around here is so bad that it's pretty much hopeless.  Blob was eating, as usual.  Wanda still hadn't been seen since her and Gambit's argument and I wondered where she was.  Maybe she had joined the X-Men but somehow I couldn't see her fighting for good.  Gambit was doing something to that staff of his; adding something I think.  I was playing out little tunes on my guitar, staring out the window.  Gambit kept on throwing glares my way; I just knew my playing was starting to annoy him.  I played a little louder and wondered if I should start up the stereo.  Finally, he set the staff down and turned to give me a full on death glare.

"Would y' mind?  Can' concentrate wit' dat racket."

I grinned at him and continued playing.  "Don't mind at all.  Kind of enjoying myself actually."  I was laughing inside.

"If y' don' stop wit' de noise I am gonna have t' show ya personally what I been doin' t' dis t'ing."  He picked up the staff, flicked a button and three long and very sharp looking blades snapped out of one end.  Whoa.  I was really starting to consider setting the guitar down as those blades looked lethal, when one of them fell off.  We stared in shocked silence as it clattered to the floor, then we all broke into laughter.  Gambit let out a very put upon sigh and bent to pick up the blade.

"Guess y' gonna have t' wait 'till I'm finished before I kill y'," he muttered to himself and went back to work on the staff.  I waited for about ten minutes before I resumed playing the guitar.  Heh heh heh.

#

A few days later and Gambit was finally finished with his staff.  He cornered us all in the living room and announced that it was time to start working on our powers.  He took us to a small field out in the woods, saying that Magneto owned it and nobody would bother us there.  It was a perfect place to practice our powers.  While it was no Danger Room, it was big enough and secluded.  Gambit told us that he was going to show us how to work as a team.  I couldn't wait to see this.

"Alright, I'm going t' be de enemy here.  All y' gotta do is stand up t' anyt'ing I throw at y'.  Y' t'ink y' c'n do dat?"  God, I had never seen anyone as arrogant as that guy.  Well, I'd show him exactly what I could do.

Grinning rather wickedly to myself, I said, "Bring it on, pretty boy."

Without even giving us the time to really prepare, he tossed a few cards our way, scattering us as we tried to avoid them.  We really did try to take him down.  Blob would run at him, probably trying to run him over but all Gambit had to do was blow out the ground from under him or trip Blob with his staff.  Toad tried to get the staff away from him with that disgusting tongue of his.  Gambit charged it and let go.  The look on Toad's face when he realized he was holding a bomb with his tongue was priceless.  He dropped it pretty quick, allowing Gambit to retrieve it.  And, dammit, he even managed to avoid my earthquakes.  I swear that guy must be part cat or something.  Incredibly agile with out of this world reflexes, he easily dodged or deflected anything we could throw at him.  After about 30 minutes of this, we were all panting with exhaustion and Gambit called a stop.

"Not bad, not great but not bad."  He was smirking at us.  Damn him.  He was trained by Magneto for God sakes; we've never really had any training like this.  Mystique could never be bothered.  Right about then my temper just snapped.  Something about that superior tone of his, like he was so much better than us.  I growled and ran at him.  If I couldn't take him down with my powers then I'd use my fists.  But in my blind rage I'd forgotten about that damned staff of his.  He used it to trip me and I landed flat on my back, the end of the staff on my chest holding me down.  I glared up at him but all he did was give me a lopsided grin.  It infuriated me even more and I struggled to get up but the staff kept me pinned.  "Take it easy, eh?  Y' got t' earn y' praise.  You guys could do a lot better dan dat."  He lifted the staff and I climbed to my feet.  "Y' don' seem t' be getting it dough.  Y' can't attack an enemy individually an' expect to win.  We be a team, 'member?"  We were all kind of silent for a few minutes.  "Also t'inking dat y' need some hand-to-hand training.  Can't always rely on your powers."

"All we need is our powers.  Nobody's gonna beat them," I stated.  I sighed inwardly at myself.  Apparently, he's not the only arrogant one around here.  He looked at me like I was an idiot.  After he finished speaking, I kinda started to feel like one.

"Dat so.  Den why do y' get your asses handed to y' every time y' fight de X-Men?"

"We're outnumbered."

"Shouldn' make a difference.  If y' worked as a team."  That smug look was back again, but I knew there was a least some wisdom to his words so I kept my mouth shut.  He studied me for a moment before going on.  "Dat should be enough for t'day.  Y'all can go an' do what y' want."

"Oh can we sir?  Thanks ever so much."  You could have cut the sarcasm with a knife.  He ignored me though and went off on his own to God knows where leaving me with Toad and Blob.

"You know you really oughta lighten up a little.  Give the guy a break."  I looked at Blob incredulously.  Had I just heard him right?  "You've gotta admit that he has helped.  We actually have electricity and food.  Lots of food."

"Yeah, man, and with him training us, we'll be able to take out the X-Men in no time!"

"I can't believe you guys are taking his side!"  I started to get really angry and the ground started to rumble slightly.  It happens whenever I get overly emotional; I lose control of my powers slightly.  I tried to calm myself down as hurting one of them is really not something I want to do.  Staying would have meant losing my temper again, though, so I turned and stalked off, telling them they could walk back to town, I was taking the jeep.

#

We went to the clearing a few more times after that and we did actually improve some but not as much as Gambit was expecting, I don't think.  After about a week, Gambit told us to take a few days off, he had something important that needed doing.  So, we hung around doing nothing for a few days, Gambit seemed to be gone a lot and nothing was different from what it had been before he had ever arrived.  Well, except for the clean house and no Wanda.  Toad had been sulking about that the entire time; I don't think he's too fond of Gambit right now.  Had to wonder where Gambit was going, though.  He'd stay gone all day and then come back angry as hell at all of us.  I ignored whatever it was he would yell at us, instead filling my mind with visions of throwing him off a cliff.  It was something about us all being immature jerks with no sense of responsibility.

He came back one day even more enraged than usual.  I looked at him warily but he just glared back at me.

"What de hell is de matter wit' y'?"  His tone was accusatory.

Todd cleared his throat and spoke.  "Um, who?"  Todd cringed back slightly as Gambit directed his glare at him.  He was obviously intimidated by Gambit, but then the guy did threaten to blow him up once so I think that Todd was justified in his fears.

"All of y'!  Him especially!"  He pointed a finger and switched his glare back to me.  Sprawled over the chair, I raised my eyebrows and met his gaze head on.  "Don' y' care about what happens t' y'?"  I blinked at him.  Where had that come from?

"What have you been doing all week?"  I voiced a question that had been on my mind for some time.  I had thought that he was going out and having a good time but now I was starting to think otherwise.

"I'm trying t' get y'all back int' school."

I shot to my feet, getting angry.  "What?!  You have no say in-!"

"Non!  But Magneto does and y' are going t' finish what y' started dere!"

"There is no way I'm going back there," I said quietly, steel in my voice.  This was one argument that he would not win.  Why should we go back there, so that we can be ridiculed for being mutants?  What was the point anyway?  Kelly would never let us back into that school.

"Why?  Why would y' want t' t'row dat chance away?  Y', all of y', could be better dan any of dis.  Y' can' just give dat up."  He looked around the room at us, anger and confusion clouding his eyes.  "Would y' rather end up livin' on de streets or workin' some dead end job f' de rest of your lives?  Maybe y' will all be drug dealers, non?  Does dat sound good t' y'?"  His voice was scathing now and his words cut deeper than he would know.

"Shut up.  You don't know."  Our gazes locked once again.  There was sadness in his; I knew that there was fear in my own.

"Non?  Maybe I know more dan you t'ink.  Do y' really t'ink dat dat couldn't happen t' y'?"

"I won't let it happen."  I turned and fled the room.  I did not want to talk about this.  What Gambit had said brought up memories that I would rather not think about, that I could not think about.  I could feel the astonished eyes of the others watching my retreat but I could not stay in that room any longer, I had to get away.  I went up to my room, locked the door and collapsed on my bed.  I tried to force my mind to go blank but couldn't stop from thinking back.  I would never allow myself to do drugs; I had seen first hand what people did when taking them.  I could not become someone like that myself.

My thoughts went around in circles like this until I somehow managed to drift off to sleep and into my nightmares.

A/N: SailorWade, Roberto eh?  Never thought of that one, hmmmmmm, it has possibilities.  But, Gambit/Xavier, uh, I don't know... The scary thing is that I think I could make that work.  The Remy/Storm would work to.  I love that pairing.  Anyway thank you for answering my questions:D Anyone else have any ideas on what pairing to do??????


	3. chapter 3

Sorry that it took me so long to get this part out but I have been busy and not much in the mood to write.  Hopefully the next part will be out faster. Spidey, Remy is about nineteen in this one, kay? As always, read and review, please:D

Chapter Three

The basement is dark and dusty, smelling of mildew and rot.  I hate it down here.  Down here is the cause of my worst nightmares and I say that literally.  I'm huddled in a corner, trying in vain to hide, to escape notice.  It never works; he always knows where I am.  Maybe it's my crying that gives me away.  I don't even know what I did wrong, he never tells me no matter how much I beg him.  He doesn't say a word other than to tell me what a worthless piece of shit I am.

I was only seven when this started.  For some reason this man, Darcy I think his name was, decided that out of all the kid's at the orphanage he would use me to vent his anger on.  If I ever found him now, I think I'd kill him.  I **know I'd kill him.**

I hear footsteps coming down the stairs and try to press farther back into the corner, try to make myself invisible.  It's useless, though, and he walks right to me, stopping a foot away.  You would never imagine that this man could be so cruel.  Sandy blond hair, normal clothes, average build, just some guy off the street that nobody would even look twice at.  But, people always say that looks can be deceiving.

People also say that eyes are the windows to the soul.  His eyes are windows to cold, hard hatred.  He's looking down at me now and I can see that, while he is pissed, he's getting some kind of sick enjoyment out of this.

He slaps me hard when I look up to meet his eyes and I instantly drop my gaze back to the floor.  But, I've already seen what's in his hand, coiled like a whip.  It's not a whip though; it's a length of chain.  Out of all the things that he used to beat me, I hated the chain the most.  Hard and heavy, I fear that it will break bones if he brings it down hard enough.  He did break my knee once and even that didn't stop him from beating me.

I can hear as he lets the chain drop, can see it as the end hits the floor by his feet and I brace myself for the blows that will be sure to follow.  He even chuckles softly as he brings the chain up and down to strike me across the back.

I try not to scream, I don't want him to see how much he is truly hurting me.  But, as the blows continue to fall, I can't help but cry out in pain and beg for him to stop.  He never listens; he will keep going until he has had enough.

By the time he does stop, I'm nothing more than a sobbing mess curled on the floor.  He laughs again and I can just picture him sneering down at me.  His footsteps walk away from me but I don't get up.  I don't think I could even if I wanted to.  The pain is too much and it is so much easier to just lay here.  I close my eyes and let the darkness wash over me.

#

As I seem to float towards wakefulness, I hear a voice calling my name and hands on my shoulders.  The touch is gentle but in my sleep clouded mind it is harsh, somebody holding me down.

"NO!  Not again… can't take anymore…"  I sob out and strike out with one arm.  I don't have to take this anymore, I can fight them off.

I feel my fist connect with something hard and the sound of delicate bones breaking reaches my ears.  My eyes finally snap open as I wake fully and realize what I just did.

"Shit…"  Remy is knocked down on the floor, holding his nose which is streaming blood and groaning.  I cringe inwardly; I can only guess that it is broken.  "Gambit, I'm sorry…"  I try to get myself up off the bed but he waves a hand at me to stay where I am.  He stumbles to his feet and retreats momentarily to the bathroom.

Thankful for the moment to compose myself, I wipe the tears from my eyes and start chewing my lip in worry.  I feel bad for breaking his nose but he shouldn't have been in here in the first place.  Just how much did he know?  What had I said in my sleep?  I knew that he would want to know what was going on but this was my own problem and I didn't need anybody bothering me about it.  I could deal with it on my own.  I was getting pretty angry by this time and was ready to start yelling when he walked into the room.  But, there was so much concern and pain in his eyes that my anger dissipated and I dropped my gaze.  Why would he be worried about me?  He didn't care he was only here because Magneto had ordered him to be.

He sat next to me but I didn't bother looking up.  I wished that he would just leave me alone.  I didn't need anyone and certainly not him, who I barely knew.  There was silence for a while and I wondered if he felt just as awkward as I did.

"Wanted t' talk t' y' 'bout goin' t' school," Gambit finally broke the silence.  I looked up at him in surprise.  Wasn't he going to ask about the dream?  He noticed my surprise and gave a small smile.  "Not my place t' ask y' 'bout y' dream.  If y' want t' talk 'bout it y' will.  'Sides we ain't exactly de best of friends, non?"  I looked back down, grateful that he wasn't going to interrogate me about the nightmare.

"Did you go to school?"  I wanted to get the subject off of me for a moment.

He paused before answering.  "Non.  Never had de chance.  Most of what I know is from Magneto.  Y' don' know what you'll be missing if y' don' go."  I could tell that he was speaking from experience and wondered what kind of childhood he had had.  Had it been like mine?  I couldn't ask though.

I had, however, already made a decision on whether or not to go to school.  My dad had dropped out because he had gotten hooked on drugs and nothing else mattered to him.  He wasted his entire life on them.  One day he overdosed and it killed him.  That was when I had gotten placed in that god-forsaken orphanage.  There was no way I was going to turn out like him.

"I'll go," I told him quietly.  The sadness in his eyes was momentarily eclipsed by the smile he gave me.  A thought hit me and, as I have problems with keeping what I think to myself, I voiced it.  "Why don't you go back to school?"  That sadness was back again, mixed with a tinge of anger.  I started to wish I hadn't asked.

"No time for school when you're working for Magneto."  He sounded bitter.

"Does Magneto really want us to go to school or is that just you?"  Magneto didn't strike me as the type that would really care whether or not we got an education, just as long as we followed his orders.  Gambit smirked at me.

"Y' smarter dan y' look, homme.  Besides, I had t' find some way t' get y' outta de house before y' drive me crazy."  I snorted at him in humor.  He got up to leave but I had one last question to ask.

"You never told us your real name."

"You never asked," he said simply.  His voice was quiet and I a heard some hurt.  Had we hurt him by not caring enough to bother asking such a simple question?

"I'm asking now."

"It's Remy."  With that, and another quick smile, he left the room.

I was finally left alone but now I wasn't so sure that that's what I wanted.  I went over our conversation in my mind.  My eyes widened in horror as I realized what had just happened.  Had we been bantering?  Oh God, we were getting along, this couldn't be happening.  Well, at least I had broken his nose so something good had come of this.  That thought didn't provoke as much humor as it should have, I still felt kinda bad about it.  Maybe Gambit, Remy, really did care. And maybe it was time for me to lighten up on the guy a little.


	4. chapter 4

OMG!!  LOOK!!  It updated!!!  *looks around at all the shocked faces* Erm, sorry that it took so long, ey?  No excuses just I'm sorry, so very very sorry *sniff* RoguefanKC: Don't worry we'll find out what Kitty will think about them 

getting together.  Eventually… Don't really know about the Rogue thing though 'cause she doesn't know Remy in this and so would have no reason to get jealous…

Chapter Four

That night, I barely managed to get any real sleep, too afraid of the recurrence of the nightmare, they never seem to differ that much.  I let most of my thoughts hover around Remy in an effort to keep other less pleasant thoughts away.

When he first got here, I thought that he was just another of Magneto's stooges; that he didn't give a damn about us, he was just following orders.  I had thought that the guy was totally emotionless, that he would betray us in an instant if Magneto wanted him to.  Now, I was starting to think that maybe I had been wrong and had judged too harshly.

Remy was trying to get us into school, like he thought that we would actually be something one day.  I know that Magneto would not do that, he only wants mutant soldiers.  The same goes for Mystique, I mean, she deserted us completely.  I don't think we would have had a chance in hell of surviving on our own if Remy hadn't shown up.  Then again, if I was going to be grateful to Remy, shouldn't I be grateful to Magneto for sending him?  No, definitely shouldn't be grateful towards Mags, that is just wrong.  Maybe, I shouldn't be grateful to Remy either.  He would leave as soon as Magneto wanted him to, everybody left us eventually.  Or kicked us out or decided that we weren't worthy of joining them.

Like the X-jerks, bunch of hypocritical losers.

Sure, they say that they're all about taking in mutants and giving people second chances.  They'll give anybody a chance right?  Right.  How come I didn't get one?  I guess I'm too far gone for even them to save me now.  Too much of a hood, too much of a thug, just not perfect enough or clean enough to fit into their world.  Summers made that pretty clear to me.  Even the X-Men didn't think I was worth salvaging.  Remy, for some obscure reason, seemed to think that not only I but Todd and Fred as well, could actually be something.  I wonder what could have given him that idea?

So, I went back to wondering just why I hated him so much.  Did I hate him at all or was it something else?

If I forced myself, I could admit, though not out loud, that I was envious of him.  He had come here and taken over this team with ease, even when Todd and Fred didn't know him.  I was supposed to be their friend and they still never listened to me.  Hell, maybe that's why I wasn't too fond of him, he was the leader and I've always had a problem with authority.  Probably comes from being abused in some way by every authority figure that's been in my life.  From my dad to the people in the orphanages, even Mystique though not in a physical sense.  I was sure that he wouldn't be any different but I had let my guard down with him that evening.  He could be using us just like all the others, trying to gain our trust just so that he could betray us at the last moment.  I couldn't believe that I would be so naive, even for a moment, as to think that he really cared.  He would have his work cut out for him if he wanted to prove himself to me; I was not going to make the mistake of trusting him so easily…

#

I woke up that morning around noon, thanks to my not getting a great deal of sleep that night, the sun was coming up when I had finally managed to doze off, my mind running in circles.  Even after letting it run through my head for hours, I still hadn't decided whether I could or should trust Gambit.  I decided that I would give him the chance to prove himself and pray that I wasn't making the wrong decision regarding him.

I managed to drag myself out of the bed and down to the kitchen, not caring that I was only wearing my boxers and a t-shirt as I was too tired to change.  I shuffled over to the coffee pot and curled my lip in disgust when I found that it was filled with that obnoxiously strong Cajun blend that Gambit likes so much.  I'm surprised that he has yet to overdose on caffeine drinking that stuff.  I dumped it into the sink and started making a fresh batch of normal coffee.  I didn't turn my stare from the coffee pot until it was done and I had had my first gulp of the life giving substance.  I finally turned to the other two occupants of the kitchen who were giving me looks of bemusement as I continued to nurse my coffee.

I cringed inwardly when I saw the angry bruise that had flared up over the bridge of Remy's nose and across his cheekbones.  Of course, I couldn't let that concern show so I grinned at him instead and got a glare in return.  At least, as much of a glare as he could give, I saw him wince at the pain it must have caused.  It was obvious that he hadn't gone to a hospital yet and I doubted that he would.  Looking at his alien eyes, it wasn't hard to imagine what most people's reactions would be.  I couldn't even begin to imagine, nor did I want to, what life would have been like if I'd had such an obvious mutation and I felt briefly thankful that I had gotten the normal look.

I looked up when a hand waved itself in front of my face trying to get my attention.  "Uh?"  I responded ever so articulately.  It appeared that not even coffee could wake me this morning.

"I said, y' going t' be late for de training session if y' don' go an' get ready," Gambit repeated himself, obviously amused.  I thought for a second, there was a training session today?  I looked at him in confusion.  "Y' got ten minutes."

"Crap," I muttered and downed the rest of my coffee before turning back for my room to get dressed and ready.  It only took me about fifteen minutes and I was running down the stairs into the living room fully dressed in my uniform and ready to go.  The room was empty but I noticed a note from Remy stuck on the door telling me that they would meet me at the field.  I left the house and saw that Remy's bike was gone but the jeep was still there.  Thought that was strange since it would mean that both Todd and Fred had walked.  I shrugged my shoulders though and got into the jeep heading for the field.

When I got to the field, I found it empty, no sign of Remy or his bike or Todd and Fred.  I was beginning to think I had been had.  I growled angrily, swore revenge on Gambit, and got back into the jeep.  First, I would go home and change, then I would spend the rest of the day plotting.

#

When I got back, the house was still empty which I certainly didn't mind.  I changed back into my regular street clothes and grabbed a bit of money from my room.  Not much, just enough for me to buy a snack downtown as I hadn't had breakfast yet and didn't feel like making anything.

Deciding to leave the jeep and walk, I headed towards the town center at a leisurely pace.  I didn't get very far before I heard a familiar voice shouting my name behind me.

"Lance, like, wait up!"  I turned to see Kitty jog up to me and smiled.  Seemed as though my day was looking up a bit.

"Hey, Kitty, what's up?"

"Not much, just got through like a totally grueling training session with Scott.  The guy is like a total slave driver," she complained.  My mind went back to what had happened earlier and I continued to think up good ways to punish Gambit for the prank.  Maybe I could shake the ground up at just the right spot and make him fall into a mud puddle.  Yes, that sounded good.  "Lance are you like paying attention?"

"Huh?  Oh yeah, Kitty, of course."  Uh oh, I could tell by the look on her face that she didn't believe me and she was right.

"What was I saying then?"  She had her arms crossed and a challenging expression on her face.  I knew I had to answer this right or she'd be mad at me yet again.

"Um, you were talking about training sessions with Summers?"  I took a stab at it.  She glared at me.  Definitely the wrong answer.

"After that!"

"Um…"  I ran a hand through my hair self-consciously and prepared for another fight.  She stomped her foot angrily.

"God, Lance, do you ever hear a word I say?!  You are such a self absorbed jerk!"  With that, she stalked away and left me standing rather astounded on the sidewalk.  It sure didn't seem to take us long to break into a fight lately.  Actually, I don't think it ever had.  Ah well, I sighed and continued on my way, I had a revenge to exact…

#

Walking through the streets, it didn't take me long to find all three of them lounging in a restaurant eating lunch.  I glared and walked up to them.

"Well, hey dere, Lance.  Where de hell have y' been?"  Remy asked, smug grin on his face, his eyes covered by sunglasses.  They did nothing to hide the bruising on his face, though, and I began to rethink my ideas for revenge.  I think I've probably done enough damage to him already.

"I was at a training session," I ground out.  Remy looked at me innocently.

"Training session?"  He looked over at Todd and Fred.  "Did y' guys here anyt'ing about a training session?"

"Nope."

"No way, yo."

He looked back up at me.  "I t'ink y' might be delusional.  Y' feelin' alright?"  He brought his hand to my forehead in an attempt to feel for a fever and I batted it away, still scowling at all of them.  Just because I had decided to let Remy escape from my wrath didn't mean I had to go easy on the other two.

"You are so going to pay," I directed at them.  They snickered at me and I glared harder.  Remy pulled out a chair and motioned for me to take a seat.  I rolled my eyes and huffed out a breath of air before collapsing into the seat.  I was definitely beginning to rethink my decision not to get back at Remy as he was totally asking for it with that smug grin plastered across his face.


	5. chapter 5

Chapter Five

Two days later, the most horrible thing that I could ever imagine happening happened.  It was early morning, the sun already painfully bright in the sky, my alarm clock blinking eight o' clock off to my side.  I was about to turn over and drift back to sleep when my door was slammed open and Gambit strolled across the room.  I blinked up at him still more than half asleep as he tossed some clothes at me from my closet.  I swear he has no sense of personal space or belongings.

"What the fuck?  Do you have any idea what time it is?  Get the hell out of my room."  I have never been nor will I ever be a morning person.  Gambit should consider himself lucky that I didn't decide to throw things at him.  He looked at me a little confused.

"We got t'ings t' do t'day.  Didn' I tell y'?"

I matched his confused look with one of my own.  "Tell me what?"  I mumbled as I snuggled back under the covers.  It was too early and I was sure we could deal with whatever it was later.  It was his fault for not telling me before anyway.  I could feel myself dozing off again when the covers were ripped harshly away and thrown onto the floor.  "Hey!"

"We got t' go an' talk wit' Kelly t'day.  We're trying t' get y' back int' school, remember?"

"Yeah, well we can do it later.  Now give me back the damn blankets."  I reached a hand down to grab the blankets but Remy grabbed my wrist and tried to haul me off the bed.  Instead of fighting it, I let myself fall and, as soon as I hit the ground, I wrapped myself up with the blankets and curled up on the floor.

"Would y' get y' lazy ass up an' ready?  We ain't got de time for dis!"  He was beginning to sound just the slightest bit mad but I didn't really care and tried to drown out his voice to get back to sleep.  I smiled when I heard his footsteps walking away, thinking that I had won.  I was proven wrong not a minute later when I heard the footsteps of Fred coming into the room and peeked my head out from under the covers.  I had a feeling I wasn't going to like whatever came next and leapt up from the floor.

"Alright!  I'm up!"  A look of disappointment passed over Fred's face.

"Aw man.  Woulda been fun to," he grumbled as he turned and headed back out of the room.

"Y' better be down here by eight thirty, homme!"  Came a shout from down the stairs as I made my way into the bathroom.  Huh, like it was my fault that he hadn't told me anything was going on this morning.  I contemplated locking myself in the bathroom and not coming down but decided against it as one; he would just pick the lock anyway and two; this was kind of important if I wanted to get back into school.

Remy looked up at me as I walked into the kitchen where he and Fred and Todd were all waiting.  He looked back down at his watch.

"Five minutes early.  I'm impressed."  I didn't have the energy to glare so I just brushed past him and to the jeep outside.

"Let's just get this over with."

#

"What is the point of this again?"  I asked as we sat in Kelly's office and waited for him to show up.  Remy sighed rather angrily and answered.

"Y' all have t' show Kelly dat y' are good children an' dat y' won't terrorize de inmates when y' get back int' school."

"And why can't we 'terrorize the inmates'?"  I mocked.  I imagined that Remy rolled his eyes from behind his sunglasses.

"Because, den y' would get kicked out again an' I would still have t' put up wit' y' antics all de time.  At least dis way I get rid of y' for awhile."

"Antics?"

"Oui, y'all are like children.  Don' know how t' behave."  I didn't want to do it but he was really asking for it so I reached forward and flicked his nose, actually a lot harder than I had meant to.  And who am I kidding?  I did want to do it.  He made a pretty interesting noise and started cursing in French, all the while holding his nose.  I tried not to snicker as I watched him and could hear Todd and Fred doing the same.  I smirked at him as he finally looked up at me still holding his nose.

"Y' little bastard, I-" It was then that Kelly chose to walk in and Gambit managed to get his composure back pretty quickly though I knew that his nose still had to be hurting.  I turned my attention back to Kelly as he settled behind his desk and cleared his throat to get our attention.  I settled back and prepared myself for a boring morning of pretending to be good.

#

The meeting was shorter than I had expected, just as boring though.  We played our parts as the reformed trouble makers and managed to talk Kelly into letting us back in.  One fight or major mistake though and we would be kicked back out.  The only problem was that it was almost summer vacation and, therefore, there wasn't much point in us going back to school this year.  In my mind, that was just fine, we would just have to repeat a grade, not exactly a pleasant thing but also not a problem.  Apparently, Remy found a problem with it because he insisted that we would not be falling back an entire grade.

Now here is where that absolutely terrible thing happens.  Remy decided that we would make up everything we missed and complete the grades we were in by taking home schooling for the summer.  So, now we would get to spend the entire summer sitting around learning.

The worst thing was that he doesn't even ask our opinion, just makes the decision for us and I was starting to get a little bit pissed.  I held my tongue until we got back to the house before I rounded on him though.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"  I yelled as soon as I got out of the jeep, him right behind me.  He looked back at me confusion.

"What are y' talking about, homme?"

"Did it ever even occur to you to ask what we wanted or do you just make all of our decisions now?"  He still looked confused.

"I t'ought y' wanted t' go back t' school…"

"Yes, but I don't need you to speak for me.  What if we don't want home schooling?  What if we wanted to enjoy the summer?"

"Dis was supposed t' be y' last year I t'ought dat y' wouldn't want t' spend anot'er year at school when y' didn' have t'.  De same goes for de ot'er two."  I could see his point but I still wanted him to see mine.

"That may be true but you still don't get it.  You're leader of the team but not our lives.  You can't make our choices like we weren't even in the room, hell, I didn't even know that anything was going on today."  He dropped his gaze slightly and I knew that he understood.

"Y' right an' I'm sorry.  I'll let y' make y' own decisions from now on an' tell y' before I do anyt'ing, non?"  He smiled and turned his head to include Fred and Todd in his gaze.  "So, y' want me t' take y' out of home schooling?"

"No, you actually had a good point.  I don't want to stay in school longer than I have to."  The other two agreed with me.

"Good.  De first assignments will be here in a couple days.  No cheating either," Gambit warned.  School by mail, at least we wouldn't be subjected to boring classrooms or lectures from teachers, just from Gambit and that was something we were used to.  I turned to walk away, considering our conversation over but Gambit's hand latched onto the back of my shirt and pulled me back.  I looked over my shoulder at him to find him glaring at me.

"Um, yes?"  Then I remembered flicking his nose and knew that he was about to most definitely hurt me back.  I wasn't about to hang around for that to happen, though.  I shook the ground under us hard enough that we both fell and he loosened his grip on my shirt.  When I went to jump back up, I felt my shoulder hit something hard and heard Remy cursing behind me again.  "Oh shit," I half laughed when I stood and saw him holding his nose and rocking slightly, hissing breath through his clenched teeth.  I began to back away from him, trying not to grin.  "I am… so sorry… " I managed between choked laughter.  I leapt back into the jeep and got out of there before Remy could come after me.

"Dammit, Lance!"  I heard him call out in a slightly choked yell before I disappeared down the road.  I was beginning to feel seriously sorry for Remy and all the, mostly unintentional, pain that I had so far put him through.  I was also surprised that he still had yet to kill me and figured that it couldn't be too much longer.

A/N: Awwww, poor Remy and his nose… Well, Sailor Wade Lance didn't pull it but he did flick it!!  Eh heh, I'm having too much fun with that… Hmm, it's just a bad patch, hell, they're not even really, officially going out.  Lance just likes to chase her, yes?  Hmmm, and something seems off about this chapter but I dunno maybe it's just me…


	6. chapter 6

HA!  How's this for quick updating then?  No complaints right??  Fast enough for you??  Erm, just don't expect it too often.  But I am in the mood for Lance/Remy so It might just be updated again in the next few days… Heh heh, we will definitely be seeing Kitty's reaction to them going out (when it ever happens) and will not be a very happy kitty at all.  Hmmm, Rogue jealous??  Yes but of who?  She used to be on the same team as Lance, we never know what might have gone on there and then there was that little "moment" with Gambit in the alley thing, hmmmm…

Chapter Six

We were only three weeks into the home schooling before I found myself getting so bored by the work that I was even starting to look forward to the training sessions as a way to get away from my lessons.  I never understood why they taught half the things they teach us in school anyway.  I mean, what the hell am I ever going to use chemistry or algebra for in my life anyway?  Pointless waste of time is what it is.  I never even got the chance to cheat as whenever a test was sent Gambit would sit me down in the kitchen and stay there with me until I had finished.  He did the same thing with Fred and Todd as well.

It was one thing I just couldn't figure out.  We were supposed to be the bad guys and bad guys cheat and lie and steal.  Well, we had those last two things down pretty good, I know that Gambit and Todd both pick pockets whenever they get the chance and I'm not opposed to lifting things myself but for some reason Remy would not let us cheat on our schoolwork.  I was determined to find out why and maybe I could even make Remy see the light that was cheating.

So I was sitting at the kitchen table, puzzling out the answer to some math question and getting frustrated.  He was leaning against the countering drinking a cup of that horrible coffee of his.  I sighed in frustration and turned to him.

"You know this would be a lot easier if you would just let me see that book!"  Said book would have all the answers I could possibly need, all I would have to do was look them up, much easier than working the problems out.

He smirked and shook his head.  "Non," he said lightly.

"Is there a reason for that or do you just enjoy torturing us?"  I was really beginning to think that that was all it was.

"I jus' enjoy torturing y'."

"Uh-huh, yeah, that's great and all but I'm thinking that you should give me that book now," I ground out and got off the chair, advancing towards the book that sat next to him on the counter.  He grabbed it before I could and waved it in front of me.

"I don' t'ink so."  He was grinning at me.  I growled and lunged at him but he dodged me and jumped onto the kitchen table.  "Ah ah ah, y' be a good boy an' do y' work proper."

"Dammit, give me that!"  I think I must have sounded really angry to him, although I hadn't meant to, because he pretty much deflated and the grin vanished.

"Y' really want dis?"  I looked at him critically for a moment before answering.

"Yeah," I said cautiously.  He climbed off the table and handed me the book.

"Take it den," he said shortly and walked out, leaving me standing stunned in the kitchen.  He was angry.  I thought back over what had just happened.  I couldn't see anything thing that I had done, I had really only been joking around even if I didn't see the point in the work I was doing.  But, he had gotten angry and left, huh, talk about mood swings.

I dismissed it for now and sat back down to finish the test.  The book sat temptingly next to me but Remy had succeeded in making me feel guilty and I didn't once look at it for the answers.  It didn't take me long anyway as I'd only had a couple of questions left.

I wandered into the living room and found Gambit sitting on the sofa, staring blankly at the TV.  He looked up at me, disappointed and sad.  I cringed at the look.

"Y' finished den?"  He asked listlessly, though there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice as well.  I nodded but before I could say anything else he snorted in disgust and got up to leave.  I grabbed his shoulder and spun him back around.  His look of surprise turned to anger as I yelled at him.

"What the hell is your problem, Gambit?"

"Y' are, Avalanche.  Y' t'ink dat all dis is just a game?  Dis is important. I t'ought y' understood dat but I guess I over estimated y'."

"For God's sakes, Remy, I was just joking in there!"  He looked at me cynically.

"But, y' still don' understand why I don' want y' t' cheat, oui?"

I shrugged.  "Yeah."

"Y' can' learn anyt'ing if y' go around copying it from other people.  Den when y' done, y' still don' know anyt'ing an' y' still end up on de streets."   And ending up on the streets was always something I had promised myself wouldn't happen, that I would do anything to stop that from happening.

"Are you speaking from experience?"  I was almost afraid to hear the answer.  I couldn't imagine living on the streets and wondered if it would have been better or worse than living in an orphanage.  Was Remy trying so hard to keep us off the streets because he had been there himself?

"Oui," he finally answered me.  He didn't elaborate though and I didn't ask.  Instead, I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

"I didn't look at the answers," I said as he turned and walked away from me.  He looked over his shoulder to smile at me but continued to walk out of the room, seemingly depressed and I wished that I hadn't asked that question.  I watched him leave and then headed outdoors.  It was absolutely gorgeous out and I had already wasted too much of the day indoors.

#

Walking down the sidewalk, I had hoped to see Kitty since I hadn't had much of a chance to speak with her since the whole home schooling thing started.  Both Todd and Fred have asked countless time what I see in her.  Truth is that I sometimes wonder the same thing myself.  But, she's pretty, she's eternally happy and bouncy and just so full of life.  She makes me forget about all the crap that has happened to me in the past when I'm with her.

Not that that has happened too often, though, especially lately.  The guys tell me to give it up, that she is never gonna go for a hood like me.  Sometimes, she's so cold to me that I think they're right but, then, there are times when it's so perfect between us, even though these are fleeting, that I couldn't imagine being without her. I don't think I could be alone, anyway. I've been alone for too long. So, while I'm not so sure if I actually love her, I do need her.

I didn't have so much luck as to see Kitty, though. Instead, my day took a turn for the worst and Scott and Kurt came walking down the sidewalk towards me.  Great, just what I needed. I contemplated crossing to the other side of the street but thought that maybe a good fight was just what I needed to clear my head a bit. I smirked and shook the ground under them causing them both to fall with a cry.

"Have a nice trip, Summers?" I laughed at them. Pity there hadn't been a mud puddle but it hadn't rained for at least a week.

"Why don't you grow up, Alvers?" Scott growled as he hauled himself back to his feet. He was only halfway up when I rocked the ground under him again and he fell back. As if he was any more mature than me anyways. This really was putting me in a better mood, though.

"Lance, like, knock it off!" My smile vanished as I saw Kitty and Rogue coming up the sidewalk behind Summers and Kurt. I smiled a little more sweetly at them and let Scott clamber back to his feet. Kitty looked plain mad at me but that was nothing knew.  Rogue actually had a bit of a smirk on her face, though she was trying to hide it. "What is the matter with you, Lance?"

"Aw come on, Kitty. No harm done, just a bit of fun." To prove my point I tried to knock Summers down again but he was smart enough to jump away this time. He glared and I smirked at him. Kitty rolled her eyes at me.

"Come on, Kitty, we have to get back to the mansion, we have a training session," Scott said from behind her, apparently choosing to ignore me. So much for a good fight.

"See ya, Lance," Kitty called out as Scott dragged her away. I sighed and continued on my way, not quite ready to go home yet.

#

By the time I made it back to the house, it was past dark and everyone was already sleeping as we had a training session in the morning and then assignments to work on. I made myself a quick snack and then headed up to my room.

Walking down the hall, I could swear that I heard moaning and…crying?  Frowning in puzzlement, I walked closer to the sounds until I realized that they were coming from Remy's room.  I listened for a moment as more moaning and then pleading drifted though the door. He was begging for someone to stop, it sounded like a nightmare I would have and I couldn't let him go through it.

So, I creaked the door open and stepped into his room. It was dark but the moonlight coming through the cracks in the blinds was enough to allow me to see Remy's form tangled in the blankets. One long arm latched onto the bedside lamp, slowly charging it.

"Shit, Remy!" I leapt across the room, hoping to get him away from the lamp before it exploded. I managed to grab onto his wrist and pressed my fingers hard to the inside of it so that he let go of the lamp. Unfortunately, it was too late as the lamp exploded and sent the both of us off of the bed and into a heap on the floor.

The explosion was big enough to daze me for a moment but nothing more. Remy had been in front of me, taking the brunt of the explosion. I looked at him worriedly as Todd and Fred ran into the room.

"What happened?" Todd asked.

"Just go, I got this," I groaned out. Remy moaned and I slid out from under him so I could lift him back onto the bed.

"Are you sure?" Todd questioned again.

"Yes, go." Fred and Todd looked at each other before shrugging and going back to their rooms. With them gone, I turned my attention back to Remy who was finally beginning to come around. He moaned and I leaned over him slightly, wanting to see if he had hurt himself.

"Ugh, wha 'appened?" he slurred out.

"You were having a nightmare and nearly blew yourself up is what happened," I answered. He glared at my light tone and managed to push himself up to lean on his elbows. I began to check him over to make sure he hadn't done anything to hurt himself but he batted my hands away.

"Don' touch me," he bit out and I looked at him in surprise.

"I was just making sure you haven't hurt yourself."

"I'm fine, just get out." He stumbled to his feet and out the door. I followed him, worried because he still swayed slightly. He headed for the bathroom.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I tried to catch his eye but he wouldn't look at me. I knew that he was not okay, that something was wrong, but it wasn't my place to force him to tell me if he didn't want to.

"Just go away, Lance." With that, he shut the door to the bathroom and I heard the click of the lock. Not being able to do anything else, I went to my room and tried to sleep but couldn't. Instead, I listened to the sounds of the shower going. When it finally stopped, I looked over at my clock and realized that over an hour had gone by. Remy must have waited for the hot water to run out. He, then, walked over to his bedroom and I could hear him cleaning the glass from the shattered lamp. Things went quiet after that and I figured he must have gone to bed so I started to doze myself, content that everything would be okay.


	7. chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Early the next morning, I was awakened by a persistent tapping noise and it took me a few moments of groggy wondering before I realized that someone was knocking on the door. I glared at the door, hoping that it would stop if I ignored it for long enough. Looking at the clock, I saw that it was only eight and I knew that the training session didn't start until nine which should have given me another half hour to sleep. But, the knocking would not stop so I got off the bed and stumbled over to the door.

Remy was on the other side, fist half raised to start the annoying knocking again but it fell back to his side when he saw me. He looked tired, like he hadn't gotten any more sleep than I had from my own nightmares.

"Hey, I jus'...wanted t' apologize for last night, been a long time since I had a nightmare like dat."

"Uh, yeah, it's no problem," I responded a little nervously. For some reason Remy apologizing to me seemed a little off. Guess I never expected such a thing to happen.

"I didn' hurt y' did I?"

"Nah, you made a pretty good shield."

"Why am I always de one gettin' hurt?" he said with a sigh of mock indignation.

"Bad karma." The bantering was beginning to make me feel a bit more comfortable. He offered up a small smile for me. I think that he was still too shaken by the nightmare to find any real humor.

"Yeah, well…T'anks. For helpin'. Know y' don' like me much.  Most people woulda just walked away, or stood by de door laughin'." He tried to say it with some humor but he came up short.

"Well, I couldn't let you kill yourself and I don't dislike you…"

"Mais, y' don' trust me."

"And I suppose you trust me?"

He seemed to think for a moment. "I do now." I looked at him quizzically. "Y' helped last night when y' coulda walked away."

"And that makes you trust me?"

"Well, maybe not wit' my secrets mais I do trust y' t' watch my back in a fight."

I snorted at him in disbelief. "The only one who's going to watch anyone's back in this place is yourself. You can't depend on other people." He looked at me with something akin to pity but I could see a flicker of understanding in his eyes as well.

"Y' really believe dat?"

I shrugged. What was the big deal anyway? "Yeah."

He looked back at me and I just knew that I was about to be lectured. I swear this guy could turn anything into some sort of lesson. "Den let's hope dat you're not right."

"Huh? What no lecture?" I was astonished.

"Y' want one? Alright den." He cleared his throat dramatically. "We are on a team an' a team must trust each ot'er t' work-" I groaned and he quieted. "I can' make y' change y' views mais one day y' will understand."

"Understand what? That if you trust someone to watch out for you'll they'll just stab you in the back or let you down? Well, I understand that fine." I clamped my mouth shut realizing that I had said too much. Why was I opening up to him, even a little?

"Not everybody is like dat," he said quietly.

"Prove it," I sneered at him.

"Dat's what I'm tryin' t' do." I snorted but didn't say anything. "Y' going back t' sleep den?" he asked suddenly, changing the subject for which I was grateful.

I looked longingly back at my bed but my stomach was demanding that I feed it so I shook my head. "Nah, gonna get something to eat."

"Sounds good. Where y' wanna go?" he asked with a grin.

"Excuse me?"

He rolled his eyes. "Dere ain't no food in de house an' I'm pretty hungry too. Someone needs t' go grocery shopping." He looked pointedly at me.

I looked at him in askance. "Why do I always get saddled with the chores?"

"'Cause y' de one wit' de jeep," he replied smugly.

"And why can't you drive the je-?" He got a rather mischievous glint in his eyes and I quickly backtracked. "On second thought, I'll do it."

"Smart choice."

"But, you're paying for breakfast." No way was I doing the shopping and getting nothing in return.

"Fine. Get dressed den or I'll leave wit'out y'." Rolling my eyes I turned away. "I'll meet y' downstairs."

I heard him walk away and headed for my closet to find some clothes, thinking over what he had said as I got ready. Did I really dislike him? No, I realized. I didn't hate him at all anymore. But did I trust him? Probably more than I should. That scared me. There were not many people that I trusted. Only Todd and Fred could be considered to have any of my trust and even that wasn't much. I didn't even trust Kitty all that much but then she had never really given me much reason to. I found myself wanting to trust Remy though I wasn't sure if I could actually do it.

I came downstairs a short while later, having showered and dressed. Remy slipped his sunglasses on and I was glad to see the bruising completely gone, though there was a slight crook in his nose now. Probably wouldn't have been there had he been able to go to a doctor.

"Y' ready t' go den?" Remy asked and tossed me the keys.

"Yeah. Where are Todd and Fred anyway?" Most likely they were still sleeping.

"Sleepin' I guess. What kinda nutcase gets up dis early?" I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I don' count. I didn' get up dis early, I jus' didn' go t' sleep."

Rolling my eyes, I led the way to the jeep and got in. He slid in next to me and we headed off down the road. We pulled into a bakery that made the most excellent coffee not long after and took seats at one of the small tables inside.

The time passed in companionable silence. We drank our incredibly good coffee and ate a surprisingly good breakfast without sniping at each other once. The fact that we were currently stuffing food into our mouths probably had everything to with that, though. But, inevitably, we ran out of food. The waiter came by with the check shortly after we were done. I smirked at Remy.

"Well? Pay the man, Remy."

With a glare he did so but then the glare turned to a sort of evil grin. "Y' know," he said casually, "people are gonna be t'inkin' dat we're toget'er."

"What the heck are you talking about?" I watched him warily as he stood and walked over behind my chair. He leaned over me slightly and spoke lowly.

"Me takin' y' out t' breakfast, payin' for y' an' all, an', dis early in de morning, it could only mean dat we spent de night toget'er, non?" He, then, quickly pulled my chair back and surprised the hell out of my by flopping down on my lap, wrapping his arms around me and bringing his face unbearably close to mine.

"Get the hell off of me!" I shoved him off so that he lay sprawled on the floor looking up at me with a hurt expression.

"Cher, does dis mean dat we're fightin' again?" I looked at him in disgust and got up to stalk out the door. I stopped when I got to the door though and glared back at him. He was shrugging up at the waiter, who was looking at him in bemusement. "Don' worry, he gets like dis somet'imes, not enough sleep," he whispered to the waiter but loud enough so that I could still hear him.

I turned away, shouting over my shoulder as I left, "I hope you enjoy your walk home, darlin'." I could hear him curse from behind me and scramble to his feet.

"Merde, Lance! No, wait, I didn't-" But, his voice was drowned out when I started up the jeep and took off down the road.

#

When I got back to the house, I found that Todd and Fred were awake and milling about in the living room trying, unsuccessfully, to watch the TV.  They looked up when I walked into the room.

"Where have you been?" Todd asked, though he obviously was not very interested in the answer.

"Out."  I sat down on the couch and thought for a moment. "What do you guys think of Gambit?" They both looked at me odd. I glared at them. "Well?"

Fred shrugged. "We wouldn't have any food or money if it weren't for him."  Todd nodded in agreement.

"Actually, I think that's Magneto's doing. That's not what I meant anyway. Do you like him?"

Again Fred shrugged; he obviously didn't care one way or the other. Todd looked less than happy though.

"He chased my girlfriend away, yo!"

"Guess I'll take that as a no," I mumbled.

"He tried to blow me up!"

"Alright I get it." This wasn't helping me at all. But then what was I expecting? That I'd actually be able to have a deep conversation with these two? They didn't really care about anything that didn't directly involve them. They would take orders from Gambit and follow them but I guess they never bothered with anything beyond that. And what was beyond that? Friends? Gambit and I, were we becoming friends? That didn't bother me much, come to think of it, it didn't bother me at all. Maybe I was in the twilight zone.

Thankfully, the door slammed open and provided the perfect distraction from those thoughts. I was expecting Remy to walk into the room, but was shocked to see Pyro walk in like he owned the place. He ignored us to scan the room.

"Where is Gambit?" he asked finally, sounding irritated.

I had to hide a grin. "Out." I wonder how far he'd managed to walk by now.

Pyro. scowled. "His bike is still here."

"Then I guess he's walking," I pointed out to him. "What do you want?"

"I have an assignment from Magneto for him."

"Looks like you'll have to give it to him later."

He grinned at me and leaned against the wall. "I don't mind waiting."

It was my turn to scowl. I had a feeling that he was trying to piss me off and it was working brilliantly. It would be awhile before Remy got back and I didn't want to deal with Pyro in the meantime. I heaved myself to my feet and walked over to the door.  It looked like I was going to have to go and get Remy if I ever wanted to get rid of Pyro. Pyro watched me leave but didn't say anything, even though I had expected him to stop me or at least demand to know where I was going.

It didn't take me long to find Remy walking along the sidewalk and looking rather dejected. His face brightened into a smile when I pulled up next to him, though.

"Cher, y' do love me!"

I rolled my eyes. "Just get in." He did so and we headed back to the house. I gave him a sidelong glance. "Just so you know, I wouldn't be picking you up if I didn't have a reason."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "An' what is dis reason?"

"Pyro showed up. Says he has mission for you."

Gambit groaned. "Great." I wholeheartedly agreed with him.

A/N: Wow, I say a few days and it ends up being a couple weeks. Sorry 'bout that. Mais, I've had relatives over and so have not had as much time for writing as I would like.

SailorWade: Patience, dear, patience. They will get together eventually. Besides, I'm told that I tend to rush into the romances therefore these two get to take at least a bit more time. But it will happen one day!

WildfireFriendship: I don't think it would explode the moment Remy let go of the lamp because if things did do that, he probably wouldn't even have his hands anymore. Also his cards would never make it to their targets, cause they would have already exploded. Instead they explode on impact, in this case when the lamp hit the table. Or he can do that time delay thingy, where the object doesn't explode until a few seconds or minutes later. Like Under Lock and Key. When he charged the bus it didn't explode right away cause he had to give himself a few seconds to get a safe distance away, had it blown as soon as he let go he probably would have died. I'm rambling though, I do that sometimes. Anyway, I hope that explains my thinking and gets me off the hook yes?


	8. chapter 8

Chapter Eight

I leaned a little bit more into the door, trying to hear just what was being said on the other side.  I still couldn't hear much, though, they were just talking to damn quietly.

Gambit and Pyro had gone into the kitchen nearly a half hour ago, sending the rest of us away, saying that we could go and do whatever we pleased.  The training session was canceled.  I wanted to know what was going on though.  Was Pyro here to tell Gambit that Magneto needed him back?  Gambit would leave us just like I had always thought just because Magneto had summoned him.  Where would that leave the Brotherhood?

So, I pressed my ear closer to the door in an effort to hear their discussion.

"Magneto needs you gone by tonight."

"Merde, dat ain't enough time."

"He trusts you to figure it out."

"What about de Brotherhood?"

"Leave them behind.  This is too important to risk."

I had heard enough.  He was going to leave.  I couldn't believe that I had started to trust him.  I couldn't believe how stupid I had been.  I had actually begun to believe that we could be friends.  I was so lost in my brooding thoughts that I didn't notice the house begin to shake.

"Lance?"  Remy's voice called out from the kitchen.  He sounded concerned but I ignored him and turned to walk away.  I only got a few steps before I heard the door open and Remy was behind me.  I turned to glare at him.  Pyro was behind him, smirking at me but I ignored him.

"What do you want, Gambit?"  He looked at me slightly surprised.  I hadn't called him Gambit in quite awhile now.

"Y're about t' shake de house down around us, homme.  What's going on?"  He looked genuinely worried.  I tried to calm myself and stop the tremors that were going through the ground.

"You're going back to Magneto," I gritted out, lowly in the hopes that Pyro wouldn't hear.

Remy grinned at me in sudden understanding.  "Y' were eavesdropping.  Y' still don' trust me."   He shook his head and I just stared at him in suspicion.  "Tell y' what, since y' so interested in knowing just what I'm gonna be doin', I'll give y' a chance t' find out first hand."

I noticed Pyro stand up straighter from where he had been leaning against the wall.  "Gambit-" he warned.  Remy just waved a hand to silence him.

 "Y' can come wit' me tonight an' we'll find out just how good of a t'ief y' would make, non?"

"Uhh…" I couldn't think of an appropriate response. It looked like I had jumped to conclusions yet again. Maybe Remy wasn't going anywhere.

Pyro stepped forward. "This isn't a good idea."

Gambit dismissed his statement. "'Course it is. I could use de backup an' I trust him t' watch me." He grinned at me again and I suddenly understood what he was doing. He was proving to me that he really did trust me and that I, in turn, could trust him back. I slowly nodded my head; maybe this could turn out to be a good thing.

"Sounds good." Pyro was not happy with this development but he couldn't exactly say anything to stop it. He was here to deliver a message from Magneto, not to give us orders. "So, what do we have to do?"

#

It seemed simple enough. All we had to do was get in, get the information and get back out again. Sometimes, though, things that seem simple can be anything but.

According to Pyro, it was one of the smaller bases of a newly developed anti-mutant group. I hadn't even known that such a thing existed, that humans could hate us so much. Makes you realize just how petty and pointless our battles with the X-Men are.

They were supposed to have an extensive list of known mutants along with their locations and power levels. Unlike Xavier, Magneto didn't have a mutant finding machine like Cerebro, so he had to find his mutant soldiers another way. I don't think I'd even want to know how these people got their hands on a list like that, though. All I knew was that we were supposed to steal it.

We waited until after midnight before we left. Todd and Fred were already asleep, Remy having decided that too many would only get in the way. Not that he didn't spend as much time training or trying to get them to trust him as he did with me, mind you. He was training both of them much more extensively in hand to hand than he was me. Their powers didn't allow for long range attacks and they needed it more than I.

We met down in the kitchen, Remy twirling the keys to his bike around one finger when I came in. Both of us were wearing all black, although Remy's outfit had numerous pockets with God knows what in them. I almost started laughing when Remy handed me a black mask to cover my face. I suppose I could see the sense in that, though. In the off chance that we did blow our cover, it would be good to get away without anyone recognizing us. Gambit also wore his trench coat and who knew what could be hidden in there.

"Y' ready t' go, den?"

I nodded and he turned to walk out the door. "We're taking your bike?"

"Oui, it's easier t' hide."  We walked into the driveway and he straddled his bike, revving the engine, and waiting for me to get on. After a moment, I slid on behind him. "Hold on!" he yelled over his shoulder and I gripped his hips as we virtually tore out of the driveway and down the road. This was way better than my jeep; I had to get myself one of these.

Remy parked the bike a ways away from the building that we would be breaking into and we had to walk the two blocks to get there. Once there, I crouched next to Remy in the bushes as he checked out the building. He had gotten a blueprint of it from Pyro and already knew both the layout and the security measures, which according to him weren't much.

"Alright. Y' see dat building?"

"Building?" I asked in confusion. "What building? There's a building?!"

"Shut up."

"Ow," I complained as I rubbed the back of my head where he had hit me. Gambit does not pull his punches, ever.

"Jus' remember dat our goal is t' get in dere wit'out trippin' de alarms."

I rolled my eyes at him. "I got it."

"Good. Lets go, den."

There were no security patrols outside the building so getting up to it was easy. There were guards posted inside, though, as well as security cameras and lasers. It didn't matter because we weren't planning on using the doors anyway. Once we were pressed against one wall, Remy reached into his trench and came out with a small grappling hook. He quickly secured a line to the roof and we scaled the wall. True, we could have just used the fire escape but it was rigged so going up the wall was the better choice.

Once on the roof, we found the air conditioning ducts and, once we got the cover off and Remy had disarmed the security alarm, we crawled in. It was a tight fit and, as Gambit had gone first, I had a less than pleasant view. This would lead us directly to the office that we needed to get to, though.

Once we got to there, Gambit removed the air conditioning cover and dropped through into the office below. I followed, making considerably more noise than he had. He didn't look at me, though, just went over to the computer and began typing in commands.

I stood and watched him. The waiting made me nervous, well more nervous than I already was. I had never done anything like this before, small time shoplifting, but not this. I was afraid that any moment someone was going to walk in and catch us. Or that I would trip up and get us both thrown in jail. They'd know that we were mutants, though. Would they bother giving us over to the police or would they just kill us for being mutie scum? I silently urged Remy to hurry. How could he be so calm? I began to pace.

It only took him a few minutes but it seemed more like a lifetime before he had all the information he needed.

It was when we were about to make our way back into the vents that the alarms began blaring. I looked to Remy in barely concealed panic.

"Remy-"

"Just go."

I didn't hesitate and pulled myself into the vent, hearing Remy climb in behind me. We made it to the roof, all the while the sounds of the alarms barely allowing me to keep it together. Once on the roof, Remy ran over to the grappling line. He instantly leapt back, knocking me down with him and the crack of bullets echoed around us. I had been right, they would kill us.

I watched in horror as Remy crept back over to the side of the roof, two charged cards in his hand. He tossed them at the guards below us and then yelled at me to go. I was panicking so much that it took me a moment to understand.

"Lance!" I clambered to my feet and ran over to him, grabbing the line. "Go t' de bike." I felt myself nod and propelled myself down the wall as fast as I could, hitting the ground at a run.

I turned my head back to the building only to see it lit up and security guards coming after us. Remy wasn't there, though, I couldn't see him. I paused momentarily in my flight, frantically looking for him. As spun myself in a circle a hard weight hit me from behind, hard enough to knock the breath out of me and the sound of guns sounded again.

I turned my head, finding myself on the ground, Remy right there with me. He grabbed me by the collar and hauled me back to my feet.

"Keep goin'."

"But we can fight-"

"Non, run. We got what we came for."

We ran like mad to get out of there. Lucky for us we kept in good shape and the rent-a-cops following us couldn't begin to keep up. We were a block away when I felt Remy lurch and stumble next to me. I latched onto one of his arms to steady him and slowed our pace.

"Remy, what-?"

"It's fine, just keep goin'." As he said this, though, he stumbled again and collapsed against me.

"Christ, Remy." My voice was shaking. I half drug him into an alley and behind a dumpster. It was pitch dark so I couldn't see much but as I let my hands trail down his torso I could feel the blood that had soaked through his shirt. "Oh God, Remy this is bad, fuck, I don't know…" My hands were trembling as badly as my voice now. Remy could not die in this alley.

"Don' worry,'s just a scratch," he slurred at me.

"You're bleeding to death in an alley!" I yelled at him. Damn him for always being so calm.  I tried to calm myself and remember what it was I should do. Pressure, I should apply pressure. I stripped off my sweater, leaving my tee shirt, and balled it up to press onto his wound. He hissed and tried to pull away. "Don't be an idiot, this will help." He relented and tried to relax, letting his head drop back against the wall he was slumped against.

I looked around, having no clue what to do. I couldn't hear the guards chasing us; they probably didn't want to go in for a public chase. An anti-mutant group like that didn't seem like something that would be totally legal. Who knew what they did in there? But what would I do about Remy? I looked down at him and noticed that his eyes had closed.

"Damn it, Remy, don't pass out. Come on, I need you to help me," I begged him. He didn't stir though and I began to curse under my breath. I couldn't call the hospital, forgetting the fact that I don't a phone, they probably wouldn't help him anyway. I had no idea how to get hold of Magneto. I really only had one choice. "You had better still be alive when I come back."

I stood and ran out of the alley. There was no phone nearby and I wasn't about to go looking for one but there was a car. I broke in easily, glad that there was no alarm, and hot wired it. I ran back to Remy again. He looked up at me through glazed eyes.

"What's goin' on?"

I kneeled next to him and slipped my arms under him knees and back. His head rolled forward to rest on my shoulder as I lifted him. "I'm getting you out of here." He didn't say anything else, I wasn't even sure if he was awake or not as I took him to the car. I managed to get us both in the car, him slumped across the seats with his head resting on my thigh, and left with a squeal of tires.

After only a few seconds, the deafening silence in the car began to get to me. Remy's breathing had turned shallow and I snatched up one of his hands, gripping it tightly. I began to talk, anything to dispel the silence.

"You're a moron, you know that Remy? What the hell were you thinking, pushing me out of the way like that? You should have just kept on running." There was no reply. I kept talking. "I'm sorry. For being such a jerk to you. I think I understand what you mean about trust but couldn't you have thought up a better way to get it through my thick head? Getting yourself killed every time you need to prove something to me is not a healthy way to live." He still didn't say anything but we were almost there. "Hold on a bit longer, Rem. I am not worth dying for."

The gates loomed ahead of us, closed as always but that's never a problem for me. A push with my powers and they were lying useless on the ground. Their other defenses were taken out in the same way and I pulled up to the stair case with a spray of gravel. They were already out there, not suited up for once, and probably waiting for me to start something.

I pulled Remy into the driver's seat and then hefted him into my arms again. I walked up to the stairs with him and spoke before any of them could say anything.

"I need help." They all looked at me in shock for a moment before Beast came down the stairs and to my side. "He was shot. I don't' know how to get hold of Magneto and I can't take him to a hospital," I started babbling and Beast quickly checked him over.

"It's okay, we'll help him." He tried to take Remy away from me but I wouldn't let go. I think I was halfway in shock myself. I couldn't believe that something like this could happen. We had been in fights and sometimes we would get hurt but nothing like this, nobody had ever been this close to dying. Beast looked up at me and I'm sure he must have seen the fear in my eyes because he let me keep hold of Remy as he motioned for me to follow him. The other X-Men parted for us but I didn't even really notice them. Things had taken on an almost dream like quality and I was too busy watching Remy to notice much of anything else.

A/N: Yeah, once again everything is now beta read by Marilyn and Ahra. I am almost finished writing the next chapter so it shouldn't be too horribly long before I post it.

SailorWade: There is a good chance that Pietro might be included but I'm not really sure yet, I'm not all that confident about my ability to write him so we'll have to wait and see…


	9. chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Beast led me down to the med lab.  By then, I had somewhat come out of my shocked stupor and didn't protest when Beast told me to lay Remy down on the examining table.  He told me to step outside to wait but I couldn't quite bring myself to leave the room.

"Mr. Alvers, we will take good care of Gambit and there is nothing for you to do here.  If you would wait in the hall, I will give you news as soon as I have it."

Beast turned back to Remy and began to work the trench coat and shirt off him.  Jean and Kitty walked into the room behind me.  Kitty took my arm and began to lead me out of the room.  She said something to me but I'm not sure what.  The next thing I knew, Kitty and I were standing in the hall and Jean had left.

"Lance are you, like, okay?"  She sounded worried and I could see she was looking me over.  I blinked at her but didn't answer.  Why was she looking at me like she was afraid?  I raised a hand to run through my hair, it was still shaking but that wasn't what caught my attention.  It was covered in blood.  My clothes were little better off.  "Lance what happened?"  Kitty broke through my thoughts again.

"I - "  I didn't know what to say.  I couldn't tell her the truth, that we had gotten caught breaking and entering.  I didn't want to talk anyway.  "I need a shower."  I had to get the blood off.  It was nauseating and I thought I'd throw up at any moment.

"Sure.  Just. follow me.  I'm sure someone will lend you some clothes."  I nodded numbly at her and followed as she led me back upstairs.  I kept my mind blank the whole way.  Once there, I left Kitty in the hall and, stripping, quickly got myself into the shower.

I cringed as the water that ran over my hands turned pink from the blood.  There had been so much of it.  How could anyone survive losing that much blood?

I closed my eyes and shut the thoughts out.  There was no point in dwelling on something you couldn't change.  I stepped out of the shower and stood for a moment in front of the mirror.  I looked worn out and terrified.  I felt even worse.  There was a light tapping at the door and, wrapping a towel around my waist, I answered it.

Kitty was on the other side, holding a stack of clean clothes.  I leaned over to take them from her, mumbling a thank you.  She blushed at me but I ignored it, retreating back into the bathroom.

When I came out, she was still there, had obviously been waiting for me.  I glared tiredly at her.  I didn't want to talk to these people; I didn't want to talk to anyone.  She cringed at my look but I couldn't bring myself to feel sorry for it.  Couldn't she just leave me alone?

Apparently, the look wasn't enough as she still tagged along behind me.  "Look Kitty.  I'd kinda like to be alone right now, okay?"  She flinched at my tone, which was a lot harsher than I had meant, and nodded her head.

"Sure, Lance."  She turned and walked away.  I could tell that she was angry.  What did she expect?  That I would forget that there was a teammate dying down in the med lab and shower her with attention?  Now, I cringed myself.  She only wanted to help but I was pushing her away.  Just like I pushed everyone away.  No wonder I never managed to get close to anybody.  However, if I never got close, I could never get hurt.  I thought I had learned that by now but I had let myself get close to Remy.  Now I was being hurt again.

I headed for the med lab, hoping that there was some news already and ran into Summers coming off the elevator.  He put a hand on my shoulder to stop me from going in.

"You can't go down to the lower levels without an escort."  He was trying to sound sympathetic but all it did was grate on my nerves.

"Fuck off, Summers!"  I pushed him away and stepped into the elevator.

"I'll take you down myself if you want, otherwise you'll have to stay up here."

"Well wouldn't that be great!  Why don't you just hold my hand to make sure I make it all right?  I'm not gonna touch any of your precious X-Men crap!  So like I said before, fuck off!"  I turned back for the elevator.

"Alvers, you can't-!"  I spun around and decked him right in the jaw.  He fell back and glared at me.

"I will do what I want, Summers."  He didn't get a chance to reply as the elevators doors shut and took me down.

#

When I reached the hall outside the med lab, it was still and empty, just like when I had left it.  That silence that seemed to be haunting me ever since this started was back again.

Looking quickly around, I spotted the waiting room directly across from the med lab and stepped into it, settling down in one of the chairs to wait.  It wasn't like I could do much of anything else.

No one followed me for which I was grateful.  I didn't need to put up with any of the X-geeks pretending to be sympathetic.  The silence was getting oppressive though, and I began to wish that I hadn't snapped at Kitty.  Anything to take my mind off of Remy. 

It was my fault that Remy was hurt.  It never would have happened if he hadn't been trying to protect me.  I should have listened to him and kept running or, better yet, I should have never come on the mission in the first place.  Well now he would know better than to take me next time.  If there was a next time, Remy had to live for that to happen.  

I hadn't even noticed the passing of time and startled slightly when Beast walked into the waiting room.  Two hours had gone by.  He smiled tiredly at me and I could already feel myself relaxing.

"Gambit is stable for now, he did lose a lot of blood but it is my belief that he shall recover perfectly fine."  I could finally let myself relax and slumped back in the chair with an audible sigh of relief.  Beast smiled down at me.  "You can go in and see him if you wish.  He is still asleep though, and will be for some time yet."

I nodded and got to my feet, my legs feeling like rubber, now that all the adrenaline had left me, and I realized just how weary I was.  It must have been early morning by now; wouldn't surprise me if the sun was already up, though that thought didn't do anything to lighten my mood.  When the sun comes up all the bad stuff from the night is supposed to go away right?  At least that's how it happens in so many of the fairy tales; the sun just chases it all away.  Doesn't happen like that in real life, though, nothing is ever that easy.

I made my way into the med lab, Beast walking along behind me, but he went into his office, wanting to leave me alone with Remy I suppose.  I found a chair in one of the corners and pulled it over to Remy's bedside.  I didn't think that my legs were going to support me for much longer anyway, and took a seat.

I watched him.  Steady breathing, wires stuck onto him, chest bandaged and the heart monitor beeping steadily next to him.  I wanted to cry.  I think I would have if I hadn't been so embarrassed by the prospect.  So, I watched him, didn't say anything.  What would I have said anyway?  Remy in the two or whatever months that you've been leading us, you've turned into the first real friend I've ever had and I'm not ready to lose that yet so you had damn well better wake up?  Right.  He wouldn't have been able to hear me anyway.  Besides, while I can say that fine in my head, I would never be able to lower my defenses enough to say it out loud.

He wouldn't want to hear it anyway.  It's my fault that he's in this mess.  I should have listened to him and kept running, then we both would have got away just fine.  Or the bullet would have hit me instead.  Not that anyone would have cared I'm sure.  He'd wake up and tell me to go straight to hell.  But he'd have to actually be awake to do that.  If only he would just wake up, he could beat the crap out of me and I'd be okay with that because at least he would be alive.  At the moment, that was all that mattered, all I wanted.  So, I continued to watch.


	10. chapter 10

Yeah yeah, I know…long time and no updates…for anything. But I seem to have fallen out of inspiration. Hopefully I will soon fall back in…

Destiny's Light: Pietro/Pyro? I've read one of those actually. You won't be seeing that in this fic though I'm afraid. Perhaps I will take a shot at writing one, 'cause it could be interesting, but not till I've finished what I've already started. Merci, though!

Chapter 10

It was hours later, I was half asleep slumped over in my chair, when something seemed to wake me.  It took me a few minutes before I realized that the aroma of food was wafting through the med lab, bringing me back to full wakefulness and making me realize just how hungry I was.  Opening my eyes I saw Beast standing in front of me, holding a tray laden with breakfast foods.  He smiled at me but by then I had already turned my head to the side only to find myself looking at a still motionless Remy.  I could feel myself deflate, like I had thought that everything would be okay when I woke up, it would all turn out to be some insane dream.  But Beast was still in front of me, smiling sadly, I was still in the X-Men's med lab and Remy was still unconscious on the bed next to me.  I blinked down at my feet dejectedly for a moment.

"Are you hungry?  I brought down some breakfast for you."  Beast's voice broke through my brooding.  I looked up at him gratefully.

"Yeah, thanks." 

He nodded and handed the tray to me.  "You are most welcome, I didn't think that you'd want to go up and have breakfast with the others."  I smiled sardonically at him, what an understatement.  Ignoring the food for a moment, I looked over at Remy.

"Why doesn't he wake up?"  I couldn't stop the worry from showing in my voice. 

"He is simply recovering from the trauma he's experienced.  Give it time, Lance, he will be fine." 

I nodded and pretended to return my attention to eating.  He could tell me over and over that Remy would wake up, that things would turn out right but I just couldn't make myself believe it.  Not until Remy woke up and told me for himself that he was fine.  Beast excused himself and left the med lab, going back upstairs to join the others for breakfast.  I was thankful to be left alone again.

Finishing my meal and realizing that I hadn't even really tasted it, I set the tray down and turned back to Remy.  Maybe talking to him would make him wake up; it always seemed to work in the movies. 

"Hey Remy…"  I took a deep breath and looked around as if someone might be listening.  Talking to sleeping people is not as easy as it seems, I felt like a complete idiot.  I moved a bit closer and tried again. 

"Remy…  I don't understand.  Why did you push me out of the way?  Why am I worth any of the pain?  I don't understand any of the things you've done for me, for any of us, since you came.  I don't understand why you think we could ever be something, I don't understand why you care so much or why you seem to think that we deserve any of the trust you've given us.  I need you to wake up Remy.  I need you to answer, but you need to be awake to do that." 

There was no reply other than the steady beating of the heart monitor.  I sighed.  I hadn't actually been expecting him to wake up had I?  I slumped back into the chair.  I didn't even realize when, a few minutes later, I started to fall asleep.  That is until I was woken again, some time later, by a loud thump.  Jerking myself awake I looked over at Remy's bed only to find it empty and Remy standing defensively next to it.  Actually it was more like he was swaying next to it, his eyes glazed and clearly not knowing where he was. 

Standing slowly and locking eyes with him, I began to make my way around to the other side of the bed where he stood.  "Remy?"

Recognition came then and he seemed to deflate, relaxing and letting himself crumple to the floor.  I just barely made it in time to catch him before he hit.  Calling over my shoulder to Hank, I lifted him back up onto the bed.  He didn't have anything to say so I figured that he must have been out again.  Once I had him settled Beast came in and, seeing Remy, hurried over and began checking him for any injuries.

"What happened?" 

I shrugged.  "He woke up and freaked out.  I don't think he knows where he is."

Beast nodded as he reinserted the IV.  "It's not uncommon for patients to wake up confused after something like this.  Watch him when he wakes again and make sure that he doesn't hurt himself."  I nodded and after Beast was sure that everything was back in order he left the room, heading back to his office.  I took a seat next to Remy again and waited.

This time I didn't have to wait all that long.  Not daring to sleep after what had happened last time, I waited an hour looking for any signs of his waking before he finally did.  He groaned softly and carefully opened his eyes; the lights had been dimmed for him by Beast some time ago.  I tried to stay calm and leaned forward slightly.  Calming myself down wasn't so easy though, my heart was hammering once again.  What would happen once Remy woke?  I knew the answer though, he'd despise me, tell me to get the hell away from him.  It almost made me want to flee the room, I didn't want to hear my fears confirmed, but I stayed because whatever he said would be exactly what I deserved.

"Remy?"

He turned his head slightly towards me.  "Lance…" he sounded relieved. 

"Are…  are you okay?"  Stupid thing to ask but I had to say something and what else was there?

He seemed to ignore me and look around, frown marring his forehead.  "Where are we?"

"You were shot, I didn't know where else to go so I took you to the X-Men."  My concern must have shown, he turned his head back to me, frown still in place.  He didn't say anything and after a moment I had to break the eye contact.  He sighed and shifted on the bed slightly.  We sat in silence, me worrying on my lower lip and him just laying there. 

Why didn't he say anything?  After what happened maybe I wasn't even worth speaking to.  I would have preferred it if he had started to yell at me, maybe he was just preparing the best way to tell me to go to hell.  Anything would have been better than the silence.  Looking around the lab I idly thought that I really should call Beast and tell him that Remy was awake.  I didn't though, there was so much to say to Remy and I didn't want Beast to be there.  Only problem was figuring out how to start.  The silence soon became too uncomfortable though and I had to say something to break it.

"I'm sorry…"

He looked over at me, frown even deeper now as though he were truly confused as to why I was apologizing.  "For what?"

"For…  this…  For getting you hurt…" 

He rolled his eyes.  "An' jus' how is dis y' fault?"  I blinked at him and he raised an eyebrow at me.  I tried to speak but I couldn't say out loud what I had said so easily in my head.  After a moment of me looking perplexed he sighed once again.  "Y' didn' do anyt'ing wrong, Lance.  Y' did everyt'ing I asked y' t' do."

"No, I didn't, I should have just kept running." 

"Y' didn' want t' leave me behind an' were lookin' for me, any good team member would have."

"But you were shot because of me."

"Non, I was shot **saving y', dere is a difference."  I still didn't understand.  Why would anyone want to risk their life to save me?  "It's what a team does for each ot'er.  T'ink of it as being a family, a very dysfunctional family mind y' mais still a family."  I stayed silent, thinking over what had been said.  After a moment he reached over and took my hand, squeezing it slightly.  I looked up at him in shock.  "I trust y', Lance.  Maybe now y' will learn t' trust me as well."**

I looked at him for a moment before smiling and squeezing his hand back.  "I trust you."  He smiled back at me, closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, still holding my hand and I wasn't about to let go. 

They say that you never know what you have until you've lost it.  I nearly lost Remy and there is still part of me that believes it's my fault, whether he thinks the same or not.  I have never trusted anyone as much as I trust him.  He saved my life at the risk of his own, that has to count for something.  Even more surprising is that he trusts me back.  I don't think that's ever happened before.  Trust is not a common thing in my life, but I am beginning to see that it is an important thing.  If you don't have trust then what else is there?  There would be no team, no friends, no love.  I think I finally understand. 


	11. chapter 11

Okay, this has only had the benefit of one beta reader but it'll have to do for now.  For those of you that are actually still reading this, thank you for not giving up on me. I'll finish these stories eventually…

koolkid0607- I've actually already done Remy/Scott. Several times. There's one in the Evo, a couple in comics (though they're part of a series) and one in the movie section. So yeah. I love that pairing. 

There are still many chapters to come. Even if they are gonna come slowly. Very slowly as inspiration still seems to be gone. 

Chapter Eleven

Remy slept again for a few hours after we had talked; well technically after he had reassured me.  I stayed at his bedside, silently keeping watch.  More for my benefit than his, as even though Beast said he was fine, I was still worried.  None of the X-Men bothered me and I had more than enough time to think.  I seemed to have a lot of time to do that lately. 

Remy hadn't blamed me.  I could still hardly believe it.  What had I done to deserve something – someone – like this?  From this moment on, there was no way he was ever going to get hurt because of me.  I owed him my life.  I was going to find a way to show him just how much what he did meant to me.  I knew now that he had my back and I was going to show him that I had his as well. 

I was going to start by sticking around this place with him until he was well enough to leave.  Unfortunately Beast absolutely insisted that Remy had to spend at least a day, preferably two, recovering in the med lab.

After sleeping for a good few hours he started to wake again.  This time when his eyes slowly opened I called Beast and told him Remy was awake.  Beast wasted no time coming into the lab to check on him.  Seeing him, Remy got an instant look of suspicion and I knew that this was not going to go well. 

Remy managed to suffer through a couple of routine checks, heartbeat and temperature, in silence.  Then Beast took out a needle filled with something, antibiotics maybe, and Remy looked at it like it was a snake about to strike. 

"What de hell y' plan on doin' wit' dat?" The tone of his voice said that Beast was completely insane if he thought he was going to come anywhere near Remy with that thing. 

Beast looked at him with the patience you would show a child.  "It is simply a routine shot, Remy.  Just a little prick is all you'll feel." 

"Y' come near me wit' dat an' y' gonna be regretting it," he warned still eyeing the needle. 

"I wouldn't have thought you to be afraid of a needle, Gambit." 

Remy crossed his arms and looked indignant.  "'M not."  With a great sigh, like he was doing Beast a huge favor, he stuck out his arm.  Beast smiled graciously and quickly gave him the shot.  Remy just sat there and glared.  I was trying not to laugh, as Remy looked a lot like an insolent child at this point. 

"I am happy to report that you seem to be recovering fine," Beast said, taking a step back, once he had finished with the needle.  Remy was already moving to get up. 

"Good.  We're outta here."  Beast placed a large hand on his chest and pushed him back.  Remy scowled down at the hand and then up at Beast.  "What de hell-"

"It would be beneficial for you to remain here a day or two until you are more recovered however." 

Remy gave a humorless laugh.  "Y' outta y' mind."  Beast raised an eyebrow at him and, by the look on his face, wasn't about to budge on this. 

"Remy, he is a doctor.  Maybe you should listen?"  Remy gave me a look of surprised anger.  Maybe he saw that I was still worried though, because he deflated after only a second and nodded slightly. 

"D'accord.  I'll stay.  Jus' t' stop y' from whining at me dough." 

Beast seemed pleased and began to retreat out of the med lab.  "If either of you need anything, feel free to ask."  We both nodded and he left.  I turned my attention to Remy.

"How are you doing?"

"Well I was okay 'til I found out I had t' stay here." 

I rolled my eyes.  "Oh stop sulking, Remy."

"I ain't sulking.  I don' sulk."  He pouted.  I raised both my eyebrows at him in disbelief and it was his turn to roll his eyes.  "Whatever." 

"You hungry?"

"Y' gonna bring me food?"  He sounded pretty astonished. 

"No.  But I am going to call Beast to bring you food." 

"Sounds good.  Do dat.  We'll annoy de hell outta de man an' he'll let us go sooner jus' t' get rid of us." 

"Hmm, devious.  Take you a whole two seconds to figure that plan out?"

"One an' a half."  He tapped his temple.  "Smart." 

I laughed slightly and felt worlds better.  This was the way things should have been from the start. 

#

The day passed surprisingly quickly.  Remy slept a lot and bitched about everything when he was awake.  Beast stayed away from us as much as he could.  No one else bothered us either.  It was actually kind of nice.  Gave me and Remy the chance to talk a bit.  We didn't discuss anything deep and mostly it was just us throwing insults back and forth.  But it was different now.  There was… respect between us, as well as real friendship, like I had never had before.  At least, I thought I'd never had it.  Turns out I had more than I thought. 

It was sometime during the evening, Remy and I were talking about nothing and apparently pretty caught up in it because I didn't even notice anyone was there until he knocked softly on the side of the doorway.  I looked up and couldn't hide my surprise and disdain at seeing Summers.  Not that I actually tried to hide it mind you.  I was about to bite out a remark, which would have boiled down to 'get out' only a lot more colorful, when he stepped aside to let Todd and Fred come in.  My mouth clicked shut audibly. 

As they stepped in I could have sworn I saw Summers almost smile.  The surprises were just never ending.  He left without a word and Todd and Fred came to stand on the opposite side of the bed from me.  I was still looking at them in surprise.  Glancing at Remy I saw that he looked just as unflappably cool as always.  Damn him. 

"Hey, yo, what happened?  We were looking everywhere for you two.  Never would have expected to find you here."  He was looking at Remy with something vaguely like concern.  Behind him Fred loomed, staying silent but nodding his agreement.

I finally came out of my surprise enough to speak.  "We got in a bit of trouble on the mission."

"And you came to the X-Men for help?"  He seemed vaguely disgusted.  I glared at him. 

"Didn't really have much of a choice."

"Children.  Can't have y' in de same room for more dan a few minutes wit'out y' arguing."  He sounded amusedly irritated. 

I ignored him, which is something I'm really getting good at.  "What are you two doing here anyway?" 

I could swear they looked a bit nervous.  "When you didn't come back we figured we'd better come look for you," Todd answered my question.  "Without any adults around we'd be kinda screwed with getting food and stuff.  Plus, you know… We were a little bit worried… Just a bit."  He held his thumb and forefinger a tiny bit apart to illustrate.  

I had to stop myself smiling.  They were worried.  About Remy.  About me.  The way they looked at both of us I could tell.  They really had worried about us.  The relief now that they had found us was obvious despite their attempts to hide it. 

Remy smiled openly at them and gestured over to the side of the room where a couple more chairs sat.  "Well don' just stand dere.  Gonna be hanging around here a couple days, may as well make y'selves comfortable.  Pull up a seat."

They did as suggested and for the first time that I can remember had an actual conversation.  I still wouldn't go so far as to call them great friends.  They probably really were here, at least in part, because they were worried about how they would survive without me, and especially Remy, there to provide for them.  But the fact that they were here at all told me a lot.  We were a team, a family.  When things came push to shove we would all be there for each other. 


	12. chapter 12

Well check it out and stare in wonder… I updated… And after only… Well I don't actually no how long. Really long time. Hey, some day there will be another update and then someday after that it'll be done. I haven't bothered to have it beta read so I apologize for the mistakes. You know… if anyone is still reading this. I'm very I impressed if you are. Heh. Please read and review.

Chapter Twelve

The day passed by quickly until I made Todd and Fred head home for the night. Or… Remy made them since they wouldn't listen to a word I said. Still. And here I'd thought I was going to have their respect but I guess some things really never change. I probably wouldn't want it to anyway. If it did I'd have to start wondering what they were up to.

Once they were gone, hopefully to bed, Remy and I sat in silence for awhile just listening to the sound of machinery. The steady hum of the computers and the steady beating of the heart monitor. That last one particularly relaxed me. Reminded me that things would be okay. Or they would be as soon as we got the hell out of here.

We hadn't really seen much of the X-Men other than the brief, definitely not worth mentioning, appearance by Summers. Beast had been down a few times to either bring us food or check on Remy's progress. Other than that it was silence. Actually a kind of nice vacation. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad having to stick around here a couple of days.

But of course I spoke too soon. No way could we be lucky enough to not have something screw up. To not have someone come down and ruin the solitude. Of course that someone had to be Kitty.

It was after dinner when she decided to poke her nose in. You'd think the reception I'd given her earlier would have been enough to keep her away for a good long while but she could be stubborn. Hell, I thought that was one of the things I liked about her. I'm not so sure anymore. And I'm starting to think that maybe the guys had been right all along.

I know I should feel guilty for how I treated her. She didn't do anything to deserve it. I was just anxious about Remy. So when she stepped into the room I should have apologized but instead I said "What are you doing down here?"

She stood in the doorway, looking at me with a hurt expression. I didn't want her butting her nose into mine and Remy's solitude. She took another step into the room although it was hesitant. Remy only watched silently.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay…"

"We're fine," I answered her shortly, wanting her to leave so I could get back having this time with Remy. We weren't exactly likely to get it again. Remy still remained silent, letting me handle this how I wanted.

She put her hands on her hips then and I knew she was pissed. Her eyes narrowed slightly. "What is your problem, Lance? I just wanted to make sure you were okay. After all you did walk into the mansion with blood all over you."

I deflated a little at that. She was right of course. I was really a jerk. Be kind of nice if she could just get the 'I want to be alone' vibes though. "Kitty, I-"

She raised a hand to effectively stop me. "Don't bother, Lance." She shook her head and the look she gave me was one of disappointment. "The others were right. You are just a hood. Do you care about me at all?"

She didn't even speak with her usual scathing words. Sorta sounded like she was giving up. "Kitty, its no-"

"Just answer the question, Lance," she snapped out.

"Yes, I care about you." I said it a little too fast, like I was forcing it out. I cared about her. Lately not as much as I should have. Remy seemed to be coming first. …Which was really a disturbing thought that I didn't care to evaluate. I glanced across at him and saw that he was still silently watching.

Kitty was shaking her head, smiling ruefully. "Then maybe try acting like it once in awhile." With that she turned and walked out before I could get a chance to even think about forming a reply. Just watched her go in a little bit of shock. Were we broken up again? …Had we even been together again? Huh.

Remy turned to look at me, eyebrows raised. "Ain't y' gonna go after her?"

I stared at the door for a moment before shrugging and looking to Remy. "Nah." Oh God… He really was coming first.

* * *

That was the last time Kitty, or anyone except for Beast but really he didn't count, came down to… pay us a visit. Prayers really did come true on occasion. Freddy and Todd stayed away but only on my own insistence and mostly because I didn't want them to disturb the solitude I had going with Remy. I think I was seriously starting to worry about myself at this point.

Remy was growing on me far too much. I adamantly put it down as hero worship for the guy that took a bullet for me. 'Cause of course that's gonna change how I look at him a bit. Or maybe I just felt sorry for him. Yeah, that was probably it. He was stuck here in the geek-mansion and I felt sorry for the guy. As soon as we got out I'd take off on my own for a bit. Think thoughts that weren't Remy. Maybe try to fix things with Kitty. Again.

First of all we had to get out though. And that meant another check up from Beast to make sure that Remy was actually fit to leave. This was going to be fun. For me anyway.

The moment Beast walked into the room I could see Remy's eyes narrow. I wondered if he actually hated it or if he was just being difficult for the sake of being difficult. Probably the latter if I knew anything about him. Which after the past couple of days, I actually did.

Beast just gave one of his big fangy grins and stopped at the foot of the bed. "I take it we're ready to go home?"

"Mais oui." Remy didn't even finish before he was moving to swing his legs over the bed and get out. Beast held up a patiently stalling hand and Remy huffed. "Y' wantin' t' poke at me first, den?"

I tried not to snigger.

"It won't take long and I promise no shots."

Remy looked at him warily before seeming to ascent. "Okay den."

Beast seemed satisfied and gave a nod before turning to gather whatever supplies he'd need. Remy watched him through narrowed eyes. Beast picked up a pair of sharp looking scissors.

"What de hell y' doin' wit' dose?" Remy nearly snapped out, arms crossing over his chest as if he could stop Beast by that simple action.

Beast sighed. "Merely cutting away the bandages."

Remy studied him for a moment before lowering his arms again. This time my snigger couldn't quite be held back and Remy turned his cold gaze on me.

"Y' need t' go wait outside?"

I tried not to laugh again. "I'm good." Schooled my face into an expression that wouldn't be laughing my ass of at him and after a moment he turned his attention back to Beast.

God, I loved this.

* * *

Remy got the all clear to go but was cautioned against moving about too much until the stitches could come out. Something he insisted that he could do on his own, so no he didn't need to come back. Thank you.

We called to alert the other two that we were coming home. Give them a bit of time to clean up the mess they had undoubtedly made. Xavier offered us a lift home but as that probably would have ended up being with Summers I declined for the both of us. He called us a taxi instead.

When we got home we expected a happy reception. Not a party or anything but some smiles. Maybe some food. A fight when I made Remy get back into a bed.

What we got was Magneto.


End file.
